Zoom And Snap Cut DEI Teams Amid Mass Layoffs

Snap and Zoom’s mass layoffs have impacted workers in various roles across the company, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) teams at both tech companies.

Snap’s Layoffs

Snap, the maker of Snapchat and Bitmoji, has laid off around 500 employees this month. The layoffs were most often conducted over brief video calls.

According to Business Insider, engineers, content moderation teams, and a small number of people doing trust and safety work were impacted.

This included several people working on a team within HR that helped with internal employee analytics, including surveys and diversity efforts aimed at hiring and keeping more diverse talent.

The laid-off employees, many of whom had been put on performance improvement plans through a recent performance review cycle, received two months of salary as severance pay.

A company spokesman confirmed that many affected workers also received two additional months of pay to cover the 60-day notice period mandated by California law.

One of the employees told BI that Snap has lost 2,000 people or more between layoffs and voluntary attrition since 2022.

Zoom’s Layoffs

Zoom has also axed 150 jobs this month, cutting about 2% of its workforce. A team of workers focused on DEI initiatives at the company were among those fired.

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Zoom launched recruiting programs to build a more diverse talent pipeline and created an employee resource group program.

However, according to Bloomberg, Chief Operating Officer Aparna Bawa told Zoom staff that the company is officially changing its approach to DEI.

Instead of having a dedicated internal team focused on inclusion, the company plans to hire outside consultants to engage its employees in DEI efforts.